Fumo trial wraps up
A lawyer who told then-state Sen. Vince Fumo he could continue the "normal course of district office business" after a nonprofit organization that he founded was served with a grand-jury subpoena in April 2004 said under cross-examination yesterday that did not mean Fumo could delete e-mails.
A lawyer who told then-state Sen. Vince Fumo he could continue the "normal course of district office business" after a nonprofit organization that he founded was served with a grand-jury subpoena in April 2004 said under cross-examination yesterday that did not mean Fumo could delete e-mails.
The advice was in a February 2006 letter the lawyer, Robert Scandone, gave to Fumo's then-defense lawyer, Richard A. Sprague, who was preparing Fumo's defense.
Sprague, who had a falling out with Fumo in 2007, testified Wednesday that Fumo told him at a January 2006 meeting that he had been advised by Scandone that he could destroy e-mail evidence during an FBI corruption investigation so long as he hadn't been subpoenaed.
Fumo attorney Dennis Cogan asked Scandone what he knew about a long-standing office policy Fumo had regarding deletion of e-mails.
When Scandone said he did not know of such a practice, Cogan read back portions of his 2006 grand-jury testimony in which Scandone told prosecutors he was aware of an "ongoing deletion of e-mails" for years.
On redirect by prosecutor John Pease, Scandone said he was not aware of any specific office policy requiring staffers to delete e-mails to and from Fumo.
Scandone testified in response to another query from Cogan that he did not recall ever seeing a Jan. 25, 2004, front-page Inquirer story about a federal investigation of Fumo.
He also did not recall an e-mail sent out later that same day by Fumo computer technician Leonard Luchko advising staffers and contractors, including Scandone, that the office was "stepping up security" and that they were to bring their BlackBerries and laptops in to be wiped.
Scandone was the last witness in the four-month-old trial. The jury heard testimony from 80 government witnesses and 24 defense witnesses, including Fumo.
The feds contend that Fumo defrauded the state Senate and two nonprofits of at least $2 million and then ordered staffers to destroy e-mails to cover up the alleged fraud.
Ruth Arnao, a former Fumo Senate aide and executive director of one of the nonprofits, Citizens Alliance for a Better Neighborhhood, also has been charged with fraud, obstruction and related tax offenses.
Closing arguments in the case are expected to begin on Monday and last most of next week.
Luchko and another former Senate computer aide pleaded guilty to obstruction charges last August and await sentencing.
After Scandone was excused yesterday, prosecutors and defense lawyers met with U.S. District Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter to thrash out differences over proposed jury instructions. *
























